Mirch Masala Indian Restaurant

I wanted a quick lunch but of an Indian cuisine. Searching on Google maps, I found this little gem. Tucked into an out of the way restaurant area, it is a bit awkward to find. Once there, the owner was very friendly and helpful. I had the lunch special with two entrees, and it was wonderful. The goat curry was one of the better ones that I have every had. I also had a vegetarian curry with chickpeas with an excellent and unique taste. I am reluctant to give the place five stars as the naan was maybe over cooked. Not bad but room for improvement. I think it just might have been an off day. Also, the restaurant is in a strip mall type area so the atmosphere could be better. Again not bad, just not fancy. Overall, I would like to return and sample some of their other offerings.

Tried Samosa and Mango lassi. Both was terrible . I am adding the pic of samosa which suggests how uncooked it is. And for that they took 20 min when the entire restaurant was empty.

Update June 28, 2024 enjoyed delicious Indian buffet from master chef! Must try. Best tandoori, butter chicken and lamb saag. Naan and masala chai and mango lassi outstanding. 😋❤️👍 Stopped in for dinner. Enjoyed "indian nachos" as appetizer, and best Saag paneer made with 10 different vegetables, and Goat vindaloo super spicy. Tasty! Followed dinner with masala chai tea. This time we tried lamb korma. It was outstanding. Nice and creamy with lots of spices.

Taste was good but can be improved. For example, chole in chole-kulche was completely dry and did not taste as good as I expected. Paani puri with only 6 puris seemed less for the price. I hope they take customer's feedback seriously and improve their quality over time. Also, as the name suggests, this one is appropriate for delivery and pickups as they do not have plenty of space or an awesome setup for dine in. For now I'm rating it 4/5 ⭐️ but can change it later if find any improvement.

What amazing food!! The curry spice were delicious, mango lassi amazing, the staff helped me navigate the menu and did not disappoint! All of the food I ate was sooo good, I wish my stomach was bigger so I could've tried more! My husband came in with the intention of not eating and was won over by the smell and presentation of the food and ended up stealing a good portion of my food! Which I am thankful for since the portion size is Soo generous I appreciated the help in finishing my food. I had the crispy garlic naan, vegetarian manchurian, lamb Rogan Josh were all so delicious. The lamb Rogan Josh was not tough at all and was very tender with a beautiful balance of flavor, the vegetarian manchurian was satisfyingly crispy on the outside and very addicting. Great experience!

It was more than amazing. One of the best service I have seen in any restaurant. Probably best Chole I ever had. We requested spicy chole and the results were delicious. We had chat buffet. A must visit place

This place is very neat and clean. Food taste awesom. They do have different offers going on everytime. They also offer you to taste/sample From Lunch special ,before selecting. Staff is very polite. I highly recommend this place for Indian food.

Absolutely delicious! I’ve gone to their location on El Cajon Blvd., and so I was pleased to find they have a second location close to work. The naan bread is huge and perfect for scraping up the last bits off the plate. The portions were well size and covered the whole dish. The butter chicken was very tasty and I’ll be happy to come in again for some more.

I need to remember to order from here again. The mango lassi is exceptional, with some more layers of flavor then the usual, and the dal makhani is super tasty, with fresh ground spices and a lot of flavor. This is not the cheapest Indian restaurant around but it is very yummy!

Stopped by after the gym and saw that this establishment was rated 4.1, and I was like "I'm going to have a good time ordering from here". SIKE. Walked in and there was only one table eating there at 7:35PM on Friday. And they were the group who ordered right before me. I didn't receive my food until 8:35PM. It's one thing if they were swamped, but they weren't busy at all. I've gotten whole fried bass dish and golden spices stir fried lobster that's fresh at a busy restaurant faster than what happened here. Ordered Butter Chicken, Butter Paneer and Tandoori Chicken. Garlic Naan and Bullet Naan. Food was alright, nothing special, only reason why I'm giving a 2. Whoever goes here and wanted garlic naan, you'll get some crackers instead. It was thinner than a Kleenex.

What amazing food!! The curry spice were delicious, mango lassi amazing, the staff helped me navigate the menu and did not disappoint! All of the food I ate was sooo good, I wish my stomach was bigger so I could've tried more! My husband came in with the intention of not eating and was won over by the smell and presentation of the food and ended up stealing a good portion of my food! Which I am thankful for since the portion size is Soo generous I appreciated the help in finishing my food. I had the crispy garlic naan, vegetarian manchurian, lamb Rogan Josh were all so delicious. The lamb Rogan Josh was not tough at all and was very tender with a beautiful balance of flavor, the vegetarian manchurian was satisfyingly crispy on the outside and very addicting. Great experience!

The food was cold and the servers somehow acted like they don't want to work there. The potato we got with our food tasted like a leftover from a few days ago. I am not a picky eater but I will never comeback here again.

They need to hire more people. Very slow service. They only had 3 person working. We went there for chat buffet but they are not able to handle 2 or 3 table at the same time. People are nice but not sure why they are not hiring more people. Food was average

I eat here every week The Biryani's are excellent- I should know because I lived in Leicester England for 12 years and was spoiled by the quality of the Indian cuisine. I have eaten the worlds best Indian food in Leicester, London, Glasgow and Nottingham Also the staff are really cool

Pretty close to my job so I decided to stop by one day for lunch. Everything automatically comes out in to-go containers, but there is plenty of seating to stay and eat there. My friend got the Chicken Masala and I ended up getting the Samosa Chaat and the Chicken Biryani with a level 5 (out of 10) spice level. The man at the counter decided to remind me THREE times that it was an Indian restaurant and therefore Indian spice levels. While I understand why he felt the need to doublecheck my spice level, he didn't need to do it three times. The food wasn't even that spicy to me when I ate it, so I'm not sure why he needed to do that. I really liked the samosa especially with the green sauce they provided. That added a nice bit of spice and flavor without being overwhelming. The biryani was okay. I've definitely had better, but I wasn't disappointed by it. My biggest complaint was that they had a bunch of spices in it and I kept biting into them. I had to be really careful when taking bites because one of the spices was hard and scared the crap out of me when I took a bite. There was definitely not enough chicken for all the rice they gave either. Not bad, but nothing amazing.

Amazing chaat buffet!!! Food service was really good. Taste was excellent!! Mango halwa was excellent!!!

I hate to do this because I do like the food here but everytime I come here I feel like I'm getting ripped off and usually leave still hungry. The lunch special is $12 and I usually tip 20% so about $15 for some rice and 4 pieces of chicken is kind of crazy. I really feel like they are instructed to count the number of pieces of chicken they serve because everytime it's the same small portion. They use to give salad but I guess not anymore. If you want garlic naan it's another $4. Regular naan is included. Idk I think this will be my last lunch here. Punjabi Tandoor up the street, though I don't like the flavor as much, is way better bang for your buck.

One of the best Indian restaurants in Southern California. I went there with my family just to try some South Indian food. We had so much food. Their dahi vada was so good. My wife loved their chhole bhatura. We will definitely be back and highly recommended. And also Thank you for the service.

The food was cold. The paneer was so soggy it was disintegrating, and the sauce tasted kind of soured which wouldn't surprise me given it was room temp. The goat had no meat, almost all bones which wouldn't have bothered me so much if I got some kind of warning beforehand that 95% of it would be bone and tendon. I bit into it and nearly cracked my tooth. Also it was cold. The bread was burnt to hell and didn't have any seasoning at all. The soda fountain had no ice/ was broken. Idk, I don't have a lot of money to spend but I would've rather spent a dollar extra for a hot entree at an actual restaurant or like $5 less to grab a sandwich from any other place. Wasted my lunch time and money. Service was nice though. Everything else could improve.

Honestly, given the high ratings, I was expecting this place to be decent. However, this is the worst Indian food I have eaten in SD, and some of the worst Indian food I've ever eaten. My gf thought it was ok, hence two stars. Went for dinner pickup, ordered two different lamb curries. The staff was prompt and friendly, which was nice. However, once I got home to eat, the curry had completely separated into water and oil. It was pretty gross--the oil was the top 1/3 of the container, which I've never seen before, and the spices had turned into a chunky mush on the bottom. Clearly the curry had been sitting all day and we got the dregs. To boot, the garlic naan was flavorless and lacked that richness and chew you can get with naan other places. The rice was fine, but that's hard to mess up. My Indian grandmother can't cook for her life but still makes better food than this place served us.

Excellent food with -Great personal service -I had misplaced my jacket the day we visited that restaurant on the first time, and even after the restaurant was closed, they answered my call promptly and the owner even called me from his home, assuring me that he would look for that -Felt so good about the attitude and Service that we went back with the rest of our extended family to have the great experience as well

Bought a deal from Localflavor to use at Mirch Masala but it turns out they refuse to honor it. Sounds like they entered an agreement with localflavor to advertise their business with the intention of baiting customers to come there and spend money since they made an effort to go there already. If they wanted to stop business with localflavor, they should have honored all deal purchases made up until they terminated all business with localflavor.

Came here on a Saturday at around 1:30pm and it was pretty empty so we were able to take our time figuring out what we wanted to get. This place is clean and similar to other take out spots where you place your order at the front, and can dine in or just take out. We ordered the samosa chaat, naan, goat curry, and chicken tikka. While we were waiting, the lady who took our order conversed with us and offered us this free drink that was similar to chai. Everything we ordered was really delicious. We did get the goat curry as spicy for my sister, but she said it wasn't as spicy as she would've imagined (which honestly was a good thing, because that meant I could have some too lol. Also she has an extremely high tolerance, so what's somewhat spicy to her is spicy for me). All the dishes were flavorful and even my two year old niece enjoyed the tikka, naan, and rice. The lady who took our order was really sweet and welcoming. Although she did do a littleeee bit of upselling menu items which was somewhat too much. However, the food was delicious, and I appreciated that the lady had carefully wrapped each of our items up in plastic wrap on top of the container to prevent any spills or leaking.

The best chole Bhature in San Diego hands down! We also tried the Paneer Kathi roll which was pretty good too.

Delicious food and an excellent customer service. I go there almost every week Must try their biryani Goat curry and shahi tukda

Enjoyed Mirch Masala. Only snafu was The online order process. I ordered and came to pickup and they never received the order. Got the meal prepped in 10 min. Got the butter chicken and garlic naan. Very good and def try it again. Super nice staff too. The lead lady was very apologetic and got the error corrected. Was super busy as well which is always a good sign.

We tried the Chaat Buffet on Saturday. Entire family worked together behind the scenes to make this a success. Food quality , taste and personal service was just amazing. I would highly recommend folks to give them a try. We had kids and elders in our group and every one enjoyed to their hearts content.

Edit #4 because I have to now and it won't let me edit my last post: I am so glad the owner answered with the excuse of "how long did it sit" before you took temp. Here is he continuing to gaslight. So now I'm forced to put up more evidence. Proof is in the photos. He said he gives food at 150'. The time I called from the first mistaken order is less than an hour from the second time I called for the ice cold replacement order. After having driven there and back home to check the order and call you (which is 10 minutes on the road from restaurant to home), the order is supposed to go from 150' to 47'!? You're telling me your food cools over 100 degrees in less than an hour? Or even more accurately in less than 10-15 minutes after it leaves your restaurant? You are just BS'ing your Yelp viewers again! Room temperature is about 70 degrees so the food shouldn't be colder than that after being left out for hours - my pics show both are way colder than room temperature aka straight out of the fridge. So again, you want to tell everyone your food is 150'-155' and then cools to 47' in less than an hour (or really less than 15 minutes)? I forgot to report this guy for his food safety practices until he reminded me by making false claims again.

I love indian food This is a place that might be good for take away to go home food for college students I went with family. Was not impressed. Small portions. Will not come back

Not overly impressive, masala was good but seriously maybe 5 1in squares of chicken in their "combo" meal. $15 bucks. The Naan was flat and doughy and bit salty. If you're in the area and have a desire for Indian food. to the owner, I ordered the 'family combo' (honestly not sure what family would survive off 5 one inch chicken cubes in pint of sauce) which was two item $12.99 + tax/tip gets me right to ~$15 bucks.. Sorry for this experience. ;)

I have the worst experience Ordering food at this place. I paid $21.53 for Chicken Tikka masala to go. And when I arrive home ready to eat my food there was just juice and no chiken . I tried to reach out to them to let them know about the situation. A woman answered the phone & I try to explain what happen but all she did was been extremely rude & started to yell at me over the phone & she refused to interact with me. Basically she did not care what i had to tell her & hung up the phone Aggressively on me . Do not consume at this place because they provided the worse customer service & the servings it's not what its expected for $21.53.

The food was very well seasoned and full of flavor. The restaurant is located amongst a medical office complex with convenient parking right outside the door. The service was fast and the food was very well packaged for take out. We went on a Saturday and the place was empty, probably due to the offices around not being open at that time.

New place in our neighborhood, didn't have the hours posted but a quick call confirmed they were open (I called at 730 pm). My order included garlic naan, vegetable samosas, vegetarian vindaloo and chicken tikka masala. Food is authentic, flavorful, portions are just right. In fact, there was enough to save for another night. Rice is automatically included! They even had complimentary chai while you wait for your Order. Will most definitely come back.

Great deal for lunch! Very tasty, not the usual buffet bland flavors. Free Chai clinched it!!

Delicious food. Average ambiance. Don't go for the ambiance, but definitely go for the food. The naan was absolutely delicious..... it looks like a family run place. It was quiet when I went for a weeknight dinner.

Pains me to give a negative review of this place. First visit. Very disappointed with the quality of the food. Came in for lunch and ordered the lunch special. Had chicken and lamb as entrées. Background music is nice, but seriously loud and could not hear woman behind counter Regarding food: Rice was good jasmine rice Nann was fresh and tasty Entrées were not great. Sauces had good flavor. However chicken dish was 75% bones and gristle. The lamb was mostly chunks of fat. Basically served rice and sauce. To add to disappointment there was a piece of plastic packaging in the chicken entrée. Perhaps from packaging? When mentioned it to person who was serving food, she sheepishly looked at me and said, "oh....sorry" and took the basket with a half dollar sized piece of sauce encrusted packaging back to the kitchen. Sad to say the search for a decent Indian food place near work continues and will suggest colleagues go elsewhere.

We visited this restaurant because they serve Pani Puri, which was interesting and good to try. Our standbys of chicken tikka masala and spinach paneer were flavorful. They also had a Bhel puri dish that we ordered by mistake but was tasty. The restaurant is very casual, order and you pay at the register. The mango lassi seemed a bit off.... I prefer the Himalayan....

Only my second time here. Seems pretty . Today I'm trying the classic chicken tikka masala, goat curry and rice. I ordered the mix and match combo which comes with two entrees and rice for $9.99. Good deal for freshly made food. I also ordered garlic naan for $3.99 and to wash it down I got the Mango Lassi which is made with yogurt so I'm hoping my lactose intolerant life doesn't kick in. I'll see how it goes. The first time I came it was good so hoping it's great again. My wife couldn't handle the spice but I thought it was fine. She is kinda a weak sauce

Hands down my favorite place to get lunch! The owner is the sweetest and will make sure you order the best food :) just be friendly and tell her your tastes and she will make sure you're taken care of -- I come here at least once a week sometimes three times Couldn't recommend a better Indian place :)

I usually get goat curry during the buffet and it is always really good. With the perfect spice sauce and gravy to meat ratio. but I got a la carte today and I couldn't be more disappointed. There was exactly 3 pieces of bone and the gravy was simply water filled to the top of the container. The spices weren't really well cooked and it was bubbling up. Really really dissatisfied and disappointed! Funny how they said they had a food promotion going. 3 pieces!! I feel like I have been ripped off :(

Really delicious, and authentic food. Paneer saag was so flavorful. We order mild spice level so we can taste the food and not just the spice. Chole bhature dish was delicious too. The dishes come with rice (fragrant and fresh). The garlic naan was also nicely toasted and tasty. I love their menu too. Now we have a place to go for chaats etc. The owner gave us very good suggestions. Portion sizes are huge. So, you'll easily have enough left overs for another meal. Plan to go there at least once a week!! May be more!!

At noon during lunch hour, they had a worker mopping while people we walking in. Seems strange to be mopping during lunch hour. They have affordable prices for combo. You cannot substitute the rice out. We ordered food and fountain drink togo. The cup that was given to us didn't come with a lid Ordered the kids menu tikka masala that came with rice (naan is additional cost). It was a good portion for me. Tikka masala was too salty and not flavorful. Garlic naan wasn't cooked all the way therefore it had a doughy taste. Furthermore, they didn't cook naan in a tandoori oven. I might give this place a try again in the future but not anytime soon.

Ordered Chicken Kathi Roll and took over 30 minutes to come. Rather, I had to get up and ask for it as it was laying on the counter. In addition, roll was oily. How can one item take so long and quality be below average? Can't image if I came for dinner with others...

A little late on this review. We tried their unlimited Chaat offering so all feedback will be related only to that. The food is overall decent taste-wise but there are a couple of other factors that contributed towards the rating. Price - At $30 per person, it is expensive. I do not know if they can do something about reducing the quantity thereby reducing the cost to make it more palatable on the pocket or something else but as a family of 4, I do not think I want to pay that kind of money, especially when appetites are not as expansive as the offering. Logistics - The buffet table is out, seating is inside and Pani Puri can be eaten at the table or out. While it may work better during summer, the food table should probably be inside during winter. Even if it's Chaat, I'm not tickled by the idea of standing out and eating when there's no heater. Food - The items probably change every week but we ending up getting to choose between Pakoras, Bhel Puri, Pani Puri, Aloo Tikki, Papdi Chaat, Poori Aloo and Chole Bature. Everything was good. Some items do have an overpowering dhaniya taste but food is overall decent when compared to offerings at other establishments.

We ordered a bunch of items from Mirch Masala the other night, a place that we've been thinking about trying for a while, but just finally got around to it. While the food was pretty good, there were some minor misses for us. First things first, nothing was spectacular, but it definitely scratched the Indian food itch for us. Chicken tikka masala: a staple that is hard to mess up, but when you've had really great chicken tikka masala you'll know the difference. This one was solid but not exceptional. Saag paneer: probably our favorite of all the items but much like the chicken tikka masala, it didn't blow us away. Daal: our least favorite of the night. Tons of broth, very few lentils, and the broth was quite thin and lacked flavor. The worst part was that they gave us very little naan bread for the amount of food that we had to eat. I want to say that we got three pieces of naan, which could be standard for them, but I'm sure that it's not enough for most people.

Very good Indian food at a reasonable price. Pleasant atmosphere and the man working there was very helpful.

First time trying the mango lassi because the owner suggested it and it was the best bought 2, very friendly people go check it out it's really good and family friendly

Went to the new location in scranton- Miramesa. Got a lunch combo. They said it was $10.99 and kept yelling everything included, just pick two items and everything included. So I pick 2 and then i get asked what kind of naan. I say plain naan and my bill was 15.99 with tax because naan is not included. Lol love how these type of tactics still work for them. Plus they ask for tip for togo order(skip button is broken). About the food..got butter chicken and rajma curry. Butter chicken was exceptionally sweet. Tasted like sugar to me(sugar being less sweet offcourse), rajma also sweet which is just very unlikely. Not sure what audience they are catering to. last time i checked north indian food aint like this. Not going back

I cannot say one good thing about this place. Walked in and there was a lady on her phone, ordered food for dine in, got water and sat down at a dirty table. Water tasted like it was in the machine since 2002. There was an entire table dedicated to the woman's personal belongings, the place was filthy. As we waited for our food the waitress paced back and forth in the middle of the restaurant talking on her cell phone. Food, worst I have had in a long time. Naan was so salty it couldn't be eaten, chicken tikka masala was spicy (ordered mild) and tasted like ketchup? Do I regret giving his hole in the wall a chance, yes I do. The only reason we went was because our favorite place Yak and Yeti was closed. The end

These good reviews must be coming from friends and family because this place was a major disappointment. 1. The lady taking our order wasn't wearing a mask. There was also another lady and a guy not wearing a mask. The guy disappeared into the kitchen before I could take a photo of him. 2. Their kids and either the grandma or aunt were sitting at one of the tables just hanging out not wearing mask either. 3. The food was just not good. We ordered the biryani bowl tasted awful. The Paneer tikka masala was edible but that's about as nice as I can describe it. The garlic naan was meh. I should have looked at the negative reviews because they all had a common theme about the food and subpar service.

Soooo good ! 10/10 My first time trying Indian food! Best experience ever, the owners were very nice and welcoming.

My family and I have been visiting Mirch Masala for over a year. I have tried many dishes as well as the buffet. While the buffet is good, I prefer to order off the menu as I love paneer items and I love my curry with some spice. The owner and his family have always been welcoming and ensure you receive the spice level you desire. They are friendly and always treat us with respect, even my rambunctious little boy. They offer great food and great services. What's not to love!

LocalFlavor deal brought me here and the ownership would not honor the voucher (that I paid $15 for). LocalFlavor still sells the vouchers.... total scam...I will stay away from this place!

food was great and the customer survive was also amazing! the guy at the front was very nice and helpful :) and the garlic naan was delicious! store is also nice and clean, wasn't very busy at the time we went (saturday afternoon)

I went with a big group, most of us were trying Indian food for the first time & it was super good! This place is not very known and low key. The owners were super sweet & very helpful helping us choose. The food wait wasn't very long maybe 10 minutes max. I recommend stopping by if you ever want to try Indian food!

I ordered chicken masala online but the website didn't specify if this meal came with rice since the picture only showed the masala. I needed confirmation from the store and gave them a call. They picked up right away and confirmed it cane with rice. They also gave me an accurate time of when my food will be ready. The parking lot was full but I found a spot easily, you may want to be careful parking at the corner in front of the left side of the store. When I came inside, there were a few people seated and enjoying their food, the store wasn't too loud but it was casual enough to hold conversations with your friends. Picking up my food was easy and fast! I didn't have any problems with the meal, it was so good! I couldn't finish it in one sitting even though I was hungry that night, so consider the proportions when ordering for yourself. Note: This is a a late review and at the time I didn't think of taking a picture when I had my food, but the reference photos on Yelp are good enough!

We were tired after the days visit around San Diego and wanted some good food and loads of sleep. This place was close to where we stayed and just ordered over the phone for a pickup. We went with chicken tikka masala, veggie korma and garlic naan. When we entered the place was nearly empty and we weren't sure if the food would be good. We hoped and prayed for a nice dinner at the end of the day. The food arrived hot and when we tried, it was just amazing. The flavors were right, perfect amount of spice and all the dishes were just excellent. The service was good and the staff was friendly. I'm so glad we chose this place to have our dinner. The garlic naan was very tasty and so was the chicken tikka masala. Overall I loved the food here and I highly recommend it.